Chasing Time (sirius black)

HARD TO LOVE

Marlene stepped out of the bathroom, giving Lily her chance to spring on me. "So? Did he ask?"

The morning before, after Lily had told me the details of Sirius' party, I'd admitted that I'd found him when I came back. And what we'd talked about. We'd been around the others since we discussed it and she'd been on the edge of her seat, waiting to know the results.

I rubbed my eyes, exhausted from the nightmare that had woken me up last night. It was the little girl again. She was older this time though, around...around my age. But those gray eyes. It wasn't me. Dream me knew it wasn't me. As to who it was...I didn't want to think about that. "No. He doesn't even remember me coming back."

"Shite." Lily huffed, disappointment bleeding into her face. I think she'd been more excited about Sirius remembering than I had been. "I'm sorry, Mads. I thought maybe -"

"It's fine, Lils." I brushed it off as casually as I could. There was still a lead weight in my stomach, that disappointment sitting there since yesterday. I shrugged as I finished brushing my hair. "I really didn't expect him to remember."

Lily groaned, dramatically putting her head on the counter. "I owe Remus five knuts. Damn him."

Wait what? "You bet on whether Sirius would remember?"

Dragging herself up, she looked completely unapologetic as she answered. "Of course, I did. Remus was so sure that Sirius would forget. I had to bet against him."

We headed out into the dorm, me shaking my head in disbelief. Marlene and Alice were nowhere to be seen but it wasn't too surprising since they both had dates for Hogsmeade. I was so excited for Mar. Dory had asked her out during Sirius' party and they'd apparently spent the whole time with each other. And Alice was of course with Frank for the day. So that left Lily and I with the Marauders.

I narrowed my eyes at her slightly, opening the door for Tux to slip out ahead of us. "I think you all have a gambling problem."

"When you're stuck with the same people for seven years, you have to make it interesting. You've already won me 5 knots and a galleon." She winked at me playfully.

"From what?" They were all take bets about my non-existent love life. What the hell. "Nothing has happened with me and Sirius."

She raised on eyebrow dryly, clearly over my bullshit and began to count on her fingers. "Let's see, we have bets on: when you'll finally get together, how many girlfriends Sirius tries to distract himself with, how many times you'll break Sirius' nose, who will make the first real move, how you'll get together, how many times -"

I stopped in the middle of the common room and gave her a wide-eyed look. "This is a joke right? You can't possibly be betting on all that."

"What else are we supposed to do? You two are the only ones with a dramatic relationship and we get bored." She shrugged. "The only ones who aren't in on it are you and Sirius. Obviously."

I glared at her half-heartedly. I wasn't actually offended by this news, just surprised they had so many bets going on. "Maybe I'll tell Sirius about these bets and if we ever do decide to get together, which will be our business, we're not going to tell any of you."